


Not Quite Blood

by LittleLostBean



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Gavin Reed, Angst, Blood, Fluff, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gavin Reed-centric, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, blood is cool I guess, idk - Freeform, idk my dude, its 2am, theres thirium involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 09:25:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16573943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLostBean/pseuds/LittleLostBean
Summary: A gunshot wound leads to a distressing discovery and Gavin wonders if all his hard work meant anything at all.Things are not okay.





	Not Quite Blood

**Author's Note:**

> It is 2am and I have a lot of coursework to do tomorrow so I have absolutely no idea why I'm writing or publishing this rn. But I've been in this fandom far too long to not contribute to it somehow.. so here we go!!

Blue.

Electric blue, like the contents of a glow stick.  
Not quite water but not as thick as blood.  
It doesn’t coagulate, just fades.

Gavin always presumed he just had an eye for it, other officers would laugh and push him around as he pointed at an empty spot of carpet and relayed back that it was drenched in the not-quite-blood. He would always get the last laugh when a forensic unit confirmed his statement, smirking at the officers as he explained that they’d never reach detective with eyes like that. 

Because that was the only obvious explanation- he was just good at his job.  
Made for his job.  
Other detectives had similar quirks- Anderson always able to predict a case was red ice related before even entering the scene, Collins had a nose for rot and blood, Gavin figured his eye for thirium was the same- a skill he’d developed on the job, after all he never noticed the stuff as a beat cop, it was only when his job became crime scene focused that he started picking up on it.  
Just evidence of his versatility, nothing more than that.

The androids rose up, the world span on and suddenly he found himself with a robo-partner all of his own.  
He hated the things, hated that he’d had to drag and pull and claw his way up into the position he held now- destroying friendships, alienating peers, ruining careers in order to feel like he’d achieved something- anything- that held up to his step-brother.  
But here was an android, three weeks old and already filling the empty chair left by his last shitty partner.  
Disgusting. 

But Gavin was patient, good at his job and willing to push on if it meant his captain would show his an inch of fucking respect. 

So, months passed and his hatred for androids remained, though he eventually had to give in and to admit to their autonomy because no machine could possibly be as irritating and pedantic as Nines was. 

And they were getting on. Are getting on.  
Well actually maybe ‘were’ is more appropriate. No one will ever look at him the same after this. 

After this blue. 

It seeps through his fingers like molten mercury, leaving dark cerulean stains in the creases of his palm. And it just stays there, never fading or dampening in the open air- a sight no doubt unique to him.  
He can’t take his eyes off it. Can’t comprehend what this means. His brain is drawing a blank and his shoulder is bleeding blue.  
Somewhere the man who shot him is running free. He can’t even bring himself to care. 

The shaking starts in his hands, quick spasms work their way up his shoulders, across his collar bone and down into his rib cage. His lungs try to push out air (who knows if he even needs to breath) but its trapped by the lump in his throat and leaves instead in dry but desperate sobs. 

What does this mean? Who is he? Where does he even go from here? 

Footsteps. One after another- quick but even in tempo as if pre-programmed. Definitely pre-programmed. Did his footsteps sound like that too?

“Detective?” Nines, his face identical to his brothers yet voice somehow deeper and more gravelly, as if his voice box was never quite finished. 

Before his partner can come into view, Gavin closes in on himself, holding his blue hand over his blue wound and praying that Nines wont analyse the thirium currently soaking its way down his jacket and through his jeans.  
But Nines is Nines, too stubborn for Gavin’s usual tough-guy act, he’s in front of his ‘human’ counterpart in seconds, pushing his shoulders back against the wall in a gesture that’s both gentle and forceful at the same time. 

Gavin does not move his hand from the wound. His eyes are swollen from tears he hadn’t realised he’d shed, but now feels in the heat behind his eyeballs and in the tenderness of his face.  
Glacial blue eyes meet grey.  
There’s a challenge there.  
Or maybe it’s just begging- begging and praying that Nines will just leave him here; go back to his brother’s home while Gavin cleans himself up or offs himself quietly somewhere.  
Tomorrow could be normal or it could not come at all. Either option would be better than the look Nines will give him when he see’s his blue blood. Would there be pity? Betrayal? Worse even- an understanding? 

“The fucker got away, shouldn’t you be chasing him down tin can?” God his voice, it’s so grating and honestly just fucking sad. Nines’ LED flashes yellow-red- yellow-red. Gavin has to close his eyes as the strobing light’s only purpose seems to be inducing a headache. Which is great. Wonderful. On top of his whole fucking life being a complete and utter lie, now he has to think through the pulsating ebb of his brain too.

“You’re injured, Gavin” Nines states, ever the robot.  
“Yeah no shit, it’s not bad though- I can drive to the hospital. The next guy this fuckface shoots wont be as lucky so maybe move your ass and go get him?” 

Red light piercing through his eyelids is the only indicator that his comment had the reverse effect, drawing Nines closer to him instead of pushing him away.  
“Let me see”  
“Fuck off”  
Cold slender fingers interlace his own, pressing down momentarily over his shoulder before attempting to pull his hand back.  
“I said fuck off!”  
Gavin uses his other hand to shove Nines back.  
Red-yellow-red-yellow-red.  
The corner of the androids mouth moves down, a crease forming between his eyebrows as they draw inwards.  
The shove had very little effect on the situation, Nines remains leaning over Gavin’s hunched form, just as close as before but now extremely concerned for his partners safety. 

He rests his other hand on Gavin’s uninjured shoulder, less to comfort and more to stop him squirming, and, in one fluid movement, pries his fingers away from the bullet wound. 

And then just stares.  
Gavin’s never seen Nines stutter, never even been able to catch him by surprise, so the sudden static intake of breath at the sight of his partners injury is overwhelming. It’s all just too much, for both of them apparently.

Red-Yellow-Red-Deep dark red-Neon red-Never ending red-The red that should be flowing from Gavin’s shoulder now encapsulated in Nines LED.

He can’t take this. All of this. Any of this.  
Gavin, the coldest detective in the DPD, the heartless bastard too full of himself to even look at the beat cops, the android hater who held tightly on to his prejudice despite every counter argument thrown his way, the human who was not, puts his head down onto his knees and cries. 

Now that he knows he’s crying he’s utterly unable stop.  
It’s not like the sobbing before, this is wet and loud and animalistic.  
His head throbs, his throat aches and his shoulders are tensed up so high he isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to relax them again. 

This is it, the end of him.  
He fucking knows it. 

It’s not even his fault- all that reconciliation he’d done with his brother over summer, just to find that his brother knew the whole fucking time that Gavin wasn’t a person- that he was exactly the thing he would have gladly taken a baseball bat to just months before. Everything he thought he knew is based entirely on lies.  
What is the point of him? 

Strong arms pulled him up again, back into those light blue eyes.  
For a second they just stay like that, Nines physically holding Gavin up as Gavin snivels and groans with the existentialism overflowing from his brain (or lack thereof). 

And then, right there in front of him, the android drops his walls.  
Nines’ eyes are not cold or icy, they’re sad and they’re warm and they are undeniably safe. His frown isn’t one of anger or betrayal but of genuine concern. 

Nines closes the gap and Gavin finds himself facing the wall over Nine’s shoulder as his arms are wrap tightly around him. The hug is firm and undeniably real. Grounding.  
The lead weight he needed to stop the current dragging him away. 

Everything is not going to be okay.

But possibly for the first time in his life, Gavin won’t be alone.  
And maybe that will be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!! <3


End file.
